RP Power

RP Power began in 1998 with just three employees. Now it has 40 employees who address a variety of power needs for clients, from backup emergency generators and worksite power to custom-building secure data centers and upgrading facilities.

“We had a 13.2 percent revenue increase from 2012 to 2013,” said co-owner John Ronza.

Home generators, Ronza said, represent more than 20 percent of the company’s annual revenue, and that segment has seen annual growth of 30 percent.

Ronza and co-owner Phillip Pate received SBA financing through First Commercial Bank (now Regions Bank) to start their business. That loan was coupled with personal funds, and the new owners did not draw a paycheck for the first 10 months of the business.

The employees drawing paychecks from RP Power today include six salespeople with engineering degrees. The company has an 8,400-SF office and 12,000-SF warehouse in North Little Rock, as well as offices in Memphis, Fayetteville, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Some of RP Power’s customers include Alltel, AT&T, Verizon, Baptist Health, the city of Little Rock and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Ronza said he and Pate first talked about creating their own business in 1995 after hearing someone say how nice it would be to work with a company that was focused on the design of emergency power systems for data centers. “Phil and I looked at each other, and it was just like, ‘What a brilliant idea,’” Ronza said.

After hearing the comment, Ronza, an electrical engineer selling generators at the time, and Pate, who was selling uninterruptable power system equipment, met for lunch and began developing a business plan. Three years later they launched RP Power.

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